This was disclosed by Agriculture Minister M K Anwar while inaugurating a two-day fair titled Tomor-row's Technology for Food and Nutrition Security displaying rice research and technological developments in Bangladesh at the Winter Garden of Hotel Sheraton yesterday.

The International Rice Research Institute (Irri) and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) jointly organised the fair coinciding with the IRRI Board of Trustees' (BoT) meeting in Bangladesh for the first time. The three-day BoT meeting attended by some 30 members from 12 countries began at the BRRI in Gazipur yesterday.

The agriculture minister said, "Per capita land in the land-man ratio is on a continuous decline. We need frontier research in crop sector. Along with our efforts for utilising full potential of the Green Revolution, we should step into what is called a 'gene revolution' to reap the benefits of genetic engineering in farming."

He observed, "In spite of arguments for and against biotechnology across the Atlantic (US and Europe), we've to take cautious steps for institution building for biotechnology research and putting the regulatory framework in position." Bangladesh could not be a silent observer of an emerging technology with potential to feed the hungry million simply on the ground of perceived risks, he added.

On farm subsidy, Anwar said pumping billions of dollars as farm subsidy in developed countries is the single largest impediment to agricultural growth in developing countries.

State Minister for Agriculture Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, outgoing Chairperson of the IRRI Angeline S Kamba and Director General Ronald P Cantrell, Agriculture Secretary Ayub Quadri and IRRI BoT Member Fazle Hasan Abed also spoke on the occasion.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir referred to transplantation of Vitamin-A producing gene into Bangladeshi rice variety BRRI Dhan-29 by IRRI scientists and said, "We're ready to provide all support for early testing of Golden Rice (Vitamin-A fortified rice) in Bangladesh."

Dr Cantrell stressed a balanced diet for Asian rice consumers and also more profitability to Asian farmers. Later, the agriculture minister opened the fair.